Apollo Tyres plans to set up sales unit in Malaysia

Apollo Tyres plans to set up a subsidiary in Malaysia over the next two years as the company aims to increase its global footprint to garner around 15% of the total revenues from exports.

Besides, the Gurgaon-headquartered firm has lined up investments worth Rs 1,500 crore this year to expand capacity of its truck-bus radial (TBR) plant in Chennai from 6,000 units a day to 9,000 per day.

"We have been present in Thailand for two years now and we think Malaysia could be a similar market for us. We are studying the market's potential there and could set up a legal entity in the next two years," Apollo Tyres President (Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa) Satish Sharma told PTI.

There are some taxation related changes expected in Malaysia which could help this particular market to behave like Thailand for the company, he added.

Commenting on the Malaysian market, he said the country presents great potential for all categories of tyres, including for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and the agricultural sector.

Apollo Tyres has set up legal entities, mainly for sales, in Bangkok for ASEAN markets; in Dubai for West Asia and north, east and west Africa; in South Africa for south African markets.

India caters to all SAARC countries.

The company currently gets around 11% of its total revenue from exports and is looking to enhance it to 15% in the current fiscal, he added.

For the fiscal ended March 31, 2015, the company's net sales stood at Rs 12,725.69 crore as compared to Rs 13,310.32 crore in 2013-14 fiscal.

Elaborating on capex plans for this year, Sharma said: "We plan to invest Rs 1,500 crore this year on our TBR plant in Chennai to take it to 9,000 units a day from 6,000 units a day currently".

When asked about the company's upcoming plant in Hungary, he said the work on the project is going on as per schedule.